Coalition Letter to urge government action in fire safety
Published: 24/03/2023
Ever since the devastating fire at Grenfell Tower in 2017, various sectors of the built environment have been advocating for stronger regulation to make housing safer. The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has been very clear that consistency and clarity are needed to determine a height threshold at which two or more staircases are necessary to provide adequate access for firefighters and evacuation of residents from their homes.
In December 2022, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) launched a consultation over the maximum height threshold for the provision of a single staircase in new residential buildings – which proposed a 30-metre height threshold.
This threshold has not aligned with the evidence and guidance from RIBA’s Expert Advisory Group on Fire Safety, which found that the appropriate threshold for a second staircase in new residential buildings is 18 metres. An 18-metre height threshold would harmonise with the wider regulatory environment and align with requirements in Scotland, which have been in place for four years.
With this in mind, a letter has been sent to Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Secretary of State, Rt Hon Michael Gove MP, outlining the reasons for an 18 metre threshold, and why the government must adopt this. The letter is also signed by organisations representing multiple sectors - the built environment, fire safety and disability rights groups, including:
Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS)
Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB)
National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC)
Housing Learning and Improvement Network (Housing LIN)
Disability Rights UK
Inclusion London
Claddag (Leaseholder Disability Action Group)
Why 18 metres?
An 18 metre threshold would align with definitions in the Building Safety Act, as well as thresholds for certain provisions in the Fire Safety (England) Regulations, and the amendments to fire safety provisions within Approved Document B in relation to fire alert systems in blocks of flats with storeys over 18 metres.
More suitable for a post-Grenfell world
Research has found that post-Grenfell, more people are choosing to evacuate their buildings when there is a fire. Between 1 April 2019 and 31 March 2022, there were 154 cases where 10 or more people evacuated from a block of flats of a minimum of six storeys in London. This amounted to nearly 8,500 people choosing to evacuate buildings rather than ‘stay put’ before the arrival of the London Fire Brigade during an incident.
This demonstrates the importance of occupants having access to a safe, smoke-free evacuation route in buildings over 18 metres, helping to remove the risk of a single point of failure.
Following the COVID-19 pandemic, increased hybrid working patterns mean that occupants are spending more time in their homes. Therefore, an 18 metre height threshold for requiring a second staircase in residential buildings would better align with non-residential requirements.
What does this mean for existing single staircase buildings over 18 metres?
There is an extensive amount of housing that has a single staircase and an 18 metre threshold for a second staircase in new residential buildings does not make existing single-staircase residential buildings unsafe.
To make these buildings safer, it could be prudent for the government to require existing single staircase residential buildings over 18 metres to be refurbished with evacuation lifts, sprinklers and centrally addressable fire alarm systems as ‘consequential improvements’ where a building is subject to 'material alterations'.
As always the question would be “Who Pays”. Would this be a landlord/developer cost or would it need to come out of the already oversubscribed Building Safety Fund?
Harris Associates is a multi-disciplinary consultancy providing high-class surveying, engineering, project management and fire safety services throughout England and Wales. They specialise in Building Surveying, Project Management, Cost Management, Façade Consultancy, Risk Management and Fire Safety.
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